With the alarm set for 7 am, it was no surprise that I stayed in bed snoozing until 8 am. Still, an 8 am wakeup and 9:30 departure isn’t too bad for my first day back on the bike in a week. I set off from Jackson’s place in Zürich with a long ride ahead of me to Basel.
I honestly didn’t have too much of a plan for the ride today. I had consulted with Jackson, checked out the Eurovelo routes, and also downloaded the Swiss Mobility App. It was already looking like the journey was going to be over 90 km if I took a direct line to Basel. I had to decide how far I wanted to tangent off course to make my way to the Rhine. I played it by ear as I went and aimed mainly northwest following the Swiss national and regional cycling routes. Their routes are well signed and I felt that I would have to try very hard to get lost.
The first issue of the day become imminent quite quickly. The first time I went to brake, my bike emitted the sound of a robot giving birth. It was an unbelievably high pitched metallic scream. I realized there was some rusty build up on my rear disc break from the beer spill and subsequent wash I had given it a few days earlier. I admit – I forgot to dry off the disc brake before leaving it in Jackson’s bike storage room for three days (I can picture the cringe on my father’s face).
The screeching carried on for about 5 to 10 km whenever I had a hard brake. I tried to favour the front brake to avoid scaring anyone I was coming up behind from soiling their pants. Then I got a bit worried if I had to keep doing this for 100 km I would do something very bad to the front brake. In the end, I was glad that the noise subsided.
It was a little challenging for me to navigate out of Zürich and get heading on the right bike path toward Basel. I found myself on the Swiss Mobility route 5, which included nicely paved smaller side roads. Later I was on route 56 and then route 2 (also Eurovelo route 6).
I stopped for coffee around 35 km into the ride in Baden. I had another wee break in Brugg, which was not far from Baden. I decided the next break milestone would be a town called Frick. I kept muttering to myself, “where the frick is Frick?!”
I don’t know why but I expected the ride to be flatter than it was. I am in Switzerland, the land of the Alps, after all. But it was still a bit of a shock when I would come to an abrupt, and violently steep, ascent. They never appeared to be as bad as they really were. I don’t know how steep they were, but I don’t think the Swiss followed any sort of reasonable transportation design guidelines when they decided that human beings could ride up these slopes. I saw a lot of electric bikes ridden by locals…
When I left Frick and made my way toward the Rhine I found most of the ride was on gravel path. It was fine, but my back tire was looking a little low and I felt a bit of a weight pulling at me. I figured it would be okay, but prepared myself mentally for the worst. Thinking through this, I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen my hand pump.
When I arrived at a cute little German style Swiss town called Rheinfelden I saw a bike shop and thanked my lucky stars. I went in and had my tires checked / filled. Even better was when I spotted the definite dog of the day outside the shop. See below!
The portion of the ride along the Rhine today was really neat because it was right along the border between Switzerland and Germany. In a couple of areas it would have been easy enough to cross a bridge or swim across and I’d be there! Gotta love that about Europe. Everything is so close compared to Canada!
Finally, I arrived in Basel and had a beer close to my hostel and a riverside bar. People there were sun tanning and swimming as well. It was a hot day.
After I checked into my hostel and took a shower I wandered around the small but beautiful city of Basel. There are many museums and galleries I would have been interested in, however, because of my late arrival nothing was really open. I saw the Basler Münster (some old church), the Rathaus (actually not a house for rats as I had assumed), and many a water fountain.
People flocked to the Rhine tonight because of the fab weather. I noticed people floating down the river with water proof / buoyant (?) bags strapped to themselves. It looked very refreshing and fun! Once the float down the Rhine was done there was plenty of space to have a picnic by the water and people watch. Many people brought food and drink, but there were also a few bars and restaurants along the way where one could purchase such things. I bought a beer and ate my leftover sandwich for dinner. No complaints!
I wandered home in a sun dazed trance and simply admired the architecture and the way the sun was reflecting off various surfaces and casting shadows on others. It is indeed a nice feeling not to have to think about much else.
Tomorrow the hostel begins serving breakfast at 6 am… motivation to get up early and get going before it is too hot? Hmm – not sure. Either way, I will head up the Rhine and then slightly west toward my destination of Colmar, France, tomorrow – about 60 km away I think.
DOTD
Switzerland is awesome because you can drink out of any of the water fountains – they spew potable water!
Also, dogs sometimes find themselves inside of them.
An Idiot Broad Abroad 